Abstract or Table of Contents

Abstract: Sex segregation of labor markets still is common in most western industrialized countries. This structure needs explanation and political change, even more as in the last decades sex differences in labor market participation and education became less important. The German 'women promotion' strategy differs from the more egalitarian oriented politics in the United States or the Swedish welfare state model as it focuses on social difference of women's life course rather than on status equality. This paper questions the impact and outcomes of these promotion politics and linked discourses. As research results from various fields show (i.e. industry, university and management), difference oriented strategies fail to cope with the ongoing erosion of the traditional 'normal wages labor'/'house wife family' system and the gender hierarchies built in these structures. However, given the examples of some more promising anti-discrimination measures regarding work, familiy, and welfarestate, a 'sustainable' political strategy that challenges gender hierarchies as well as social inequality within the dynamics of restructuring modern societies seems possible.;